LCDd does not support ConnectionType ftdi with driver hd44780

[Duane Barry]

With upgrade to lcdproc v0.5.9 hd44780 does not support "ConnectionType=ftdi"

Action:
update from Ubuntu LTS 16.04.5 to 18.04.1

Observed behaviour:
/var/log/syslog

kernel: usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer: FTDI
kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
kernel: usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
kernel: ftdi_sio 1-1.1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
kernel: usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
kernel: usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer: FTDI
kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
kernel: usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
kernel: ftdi_sio 1-1.1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
kernel: usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

LCDd: driver_load(name="hd44780", filename="/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lcdproc/hd44780.so")
LCDd: hd44780: unknown ConnectionType: ftdi
LCDd: Driver [hd44780] init failed, return code -1
LCDd: Module /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lcdproc/hd4478 could not be loaded
LCDd: Could not load driver hd44780
LCDd: There is no output driver
LCDd: Critical error while initializing, abort.

Expected behaviour:
hd44780 driver is loaded with ftdi support, HD44780 connected to FTDI controller is working properly

Configuration:
LCDd.conf as per 0.5.5 description (partial)

...
## Hitachi HD44780 driver ##
[hd44780]

# Select what type of connection. See documentation for available types.
ConnectionType=ftdi
ftdi_mode=4
ftdi_line_EN=0x10
ftdi_line_RS=0x20
ftdi_line_RW=0x40
...

SW / Libraries:
lcdproc 0.5.9-2
lcdproc-extra-drivers 0.5.9-2
libftdi1:amd64 0.20-4build3

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: lcdproc 0.5.9-2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-33.36-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Aug 26 22:32:33 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-02-24 (548 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Mythbuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: lcdproc
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-08-26 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Roy A Sutton (roy-sutton)]

I see the same problematic behavior with the "lcd2usb" connections type for the hd44780 driver.

Here is the output:

$ LCDd -f -r 5 -s 0

[ begin output ]

Built on Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:50:23 +1100, protocol version 0.3, API version 0.5
Using Configuration File: /etc/LCDd.conf
Set report level to 5, output to stderr

... [ deleted ] ....

Server running in foreground
Listening for queries on 127.0.0.1:13666
screenlist_init()
driver_load(name="hd44780", filename="/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lcdproc/hd44780.so")
hd44780: unknown ConnectionType: lcd2usb
Driver [hd44780] init failed, return code -1
Module /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lcdproc/hd4478 could not be loaded
Could not load driver hd44780
There is no output driver
Critical error while initializing, abort.

[ end output ]

I am guessing that optional connection types have not been selected for compilation into the library.